The Night Diary

Papa and Dadi gather everyone’s things and prepare to take the train to Jodhpur. Nisha mourns the friendship she’ll never have with Hafa. She is also sad to leave Rashid Uncle and his stories about Mama. Nisha feels she is losing part of her mother all over again and blames herself. She does not understand why she felt so compelled to talk to Hafa and knows she has compromised her family’s safety.

Nisha writes Rashid Uncle a letter thanking him for letting her cook and for the doll. Papa catches her and tells her to stop writing. Papa leaves Rashid Uncle a note in which he thanks Rashid Uncle and tells him “the girl next door saw [them]” (226). Papa apologizes for putting Rashid Uncle in danger but says “Faria has been watching. [He] feel[s] her” (227). Nisha sees the letter and gets chills seeing her mother’s name in writing.

Worried for his family’s safety, Papa is visibly upset. Papa, Dadi, Amil, and Nisha travel quickly on foot to a village to buy train tickets. When they arrive, the village is crowded, and the line for tickets is 100 people long.